Now that he's retired, psychotherapist Hal Brown of Middleboro finds that sharing his ideas is his own personal therapy.

Twinkle, twinkle, little shutdown bat! How I wonder what you're at!

About this blog

By Hal Brown

Hal Brown of Middleboro earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in social work at Michigan State University and went on to be a mental health center director and psychotherapist. He has always had a passion for writing, and has been on the
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Hal Brown of Middleboro earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in social work at Michigan State University and went on to be a mental health center director and psychotherapist. He has always had a passion for writing, and has been on the internet since the days you had to learn HTML code to publish a website.

I really wasn’t planning to stay up until midnight Monday. I’d been watching the countdown clock to government shutdown earlier in the evening, and thinking about the many times I watched other countdowns on television. Those were when the United States first started rocketing astronauts into space.

I was far more anxious watching those rocket ships than I was last night. After all, this was early in the space program and each launch was anything but routine. (Of course that was before the Challenger disaster.)

But even with the first launch of Allen Shepherd’s sub-orbital flight in 1961, I had so much confidence in NASA that I wasn’t all that worried. When's the last time Americans had that much confidence in a government agency?

When I woke up at 11:30 last night. Rather than go back to sleep, I was curious. I was already thinking about writing about this. I ifgured I might as well turn on the TV. I wanted see how the first chapter of this national drama was going to end.

I set the timer on the TV to shut of in a half hour, closed my eyes, and as I was drifting off to sleep I heard that the government had indeed shut down.

I wasn’t particularly anxious about the consequenses.

I was more nervous during the early NASA launches when a familiar astronaut’s life was at stake.

I hate to admit that I am more intrigued about how this shutdown will impact the country than I am concerned.

I marvel at how this Republican exercise reminds me of the "Alice in Wonderland" Mad Hatter's tea party. It's almost impossible to believe that our country is being led by the Wonderland Tea Party, rather than by those trying to emulate our own Boston Tea Party patriots. I feel like Alice did. Who are these crazy people?

The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: `--that begins with an M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness-- you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?'

`Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--'

`Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.

This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.

`At any rate I'll never go THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!'

Maybe I should be more worried.

If Senator Ted Cruz, the Queen of Hearts in this story, digs in the heels of his $1,800 Lucchese Classics black cherry full quill ostrich boots,* the ending of this story could end with him malevolently shouting “off with all our heads" as his minions of serious-faced tea partiers stand in the background on the Capitol steps.

After all as the actual pain of goverment shutdown is felt among us common folks, these members of the House are like the timid Dormouse. They won't do a thing without Queen Cruz's imprimatur.

As much as it feels like a bad dream, all these politicians won't eventually turn into playing cards and fly helter skelter into the air.

We won't wake up and find it was all a bad dream in a totally insane land of Tea Party polictics.

*A real footnote: Cruz Shoes

I don't really know what brand of shoes millionaire Cruz wears. I do know from numerous references and the photo below that he favors a pair of black ostrich skin cowboy boots. Someone should ask this man of the people what brand and variety of boots he wears, Custom made boots can fetch $12,000.

I know he wore comfortable running shoes during his 21 hour speechathon.